Hot Topics:

Councilor, withdraw from manager search

Lowell City Councilor John Leahy said he would keep an open mind in the selection process for the next city manager.

But two subsequent decisions call into question his objectivity and candor.

After learning that his brother-in-law George Ramirez, executive vice president of Devens operations for MassDevelopment, was one of the five city manager finalists, he declined to remove himself from the upcoming candidate interviews and ultimate vote.

Then it was reported that every city councilor but one, Leahy, voted for both Lowell candidates -- Ramirez and state Rep. Kevin Murphy.

In the first case, Leahy said he had sought and received an opinion from the state Ethics Commission that allows him to participate in the selection process.

Leahy said the full opinion -- which he has so far declined to disclose -- centers around the law's definition of immediate family, which is one's spouse, their parents, children, brothers, and sisters.

Ramirez is married to Leahy's sister, Kathy, a teacher in the Lowell public school system.

A "gray" technicality is one thing. Clear public perception is quite another.

It's not difficult to see the appearance of conflict that could arise between a city manager and a councilor who are brother-in-laws, not to mention a sister and sister-in-law who's a public-school teacher.

And for his omission of Murphy?

Leahy indicated one of the reasons he excluded Murphy was based on feedback from residents who said they would prefer a professional manager.

Advertisement

It's good to seek the input of others. But is Leahy's "focus" group one of like-minded people -- maybe campaign donors -- who served to reinforce the councilor's preconceived notion to exclude Murphy for his in-law's benefit, or was it a broad swath of representative Lowellians?

It's fortunate for UMass Lowell that Councilor Leahy wasn't on the search committee for its last chancellor.

A career politician -- not educator -- Lowell's Marty Meehan was selected to head the university in 2007 after serving 14 years in Congress.

The stunning advances in the university's academic profile and school facilities during his tenure are a testament to his leadership and vision.

As Meehan shouldn't have been discounted, nor should Murphy, someone with more than 30 years of government and legislative experience on the local and state levels.

This is no endorsement of Murphy, just a statement of the obvious. Not making Murphy a finalist, relative to the other candidates, defies logic and common sense.

As for professional managers, two of the finalists -- former Birmingham, Mich., City Manager Robert Bruner and former East Providence, R.I., City Manager Peter Graczykowski -- are unemployed, while another, North Reading Town Administrator Greg Balukonis, received reviews at his most recent annual evaluation in the "needs improvement" and "low satisfactory" range.

Leahy's willingness to give all these people an opportunity -- sight unseen without prejudice -- is based on questionable managerial experience; yet he'd won't give the same consideration to someone he does know -- someone with a long track record of legislative and business success -- simply because that candidate lacks a designation?

While leaving Murphy's name off the finalists' list for an interview shows Leahy's bias, it is not in itself his fatal flaw. That comes from Leahy's misguided effort to persuade Lowellians there's no conflict with him participating in a selection process involving his brother-in-law.

If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, Councilor Leahy, it's a duck.

Leahy has no choice but to recuse himself from the selection process. To do otherwise is to violate the integrity of the city manager search.

Welcome to your discussion forum: Sign in with a Disqus account or your social networking account for your comment to be posted immediately, provided it meets the guidelines. (READ HOW.)
Comments made here are the sole responsibility of the person posting them; these comments do not reflect the opinion of The Sun. So keep it civil.